A forum for people who suffer from chronic or persistent coughs to share ideas... these don't have any sort of official approval so you try any of them out at your own risk. I've consigned some of the more unusual ones I received to the Oddities bin on the left. I've also listed very simple remedies separately. If you're a sufferer, good luck, and please report back by commenting on the particular posting if you find success. Or just comment to the most recent posting and I will pick it up.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The good news is that I have taken part in the drug trial now.... and it works! The bad news is I have now finished the trial, and the cough is back as bad as ever - hence me writing this at 4.30 am, awake and coughing. And the bad news is compounded by the fact that the new drug as trialed won't be available for probably at least three years..

There was a very good article in the Daily Mail about the trial, written by Ben Spencer on June 13. Quote:

The new drug, known for now as AF-219, blocks receptors on the throat nerve which triggers the cough reflex, effectively muting the cough response.

Briefly, my story is a follows this was a "blind" trial in that some patients would be taking a placebo tablet, but I knew as soon as I started taking the pills that I was on the real thing, because it affected my taste quite badly. An hour later, a beans-on-toast lunch tasted of cardboard!

While that was unpleasant, the effect it had on my cough was equally dramatic - I would say it reduced it by about 75 per cent.

Over the next three months the pattern of my day was this : breakfast, tastes fine, then take a pill ; lunch, taste not very good ; evening meal, taste OK, take a pill ; night time water, funny taste.

So, take a pill, taste disrupted for 5-6 hours... taste returns.

But the effect on my cough was significant - much reduced, so much so that I wasn't particularly conscious of what is going on in my chest for much of the time. I was sleeping much better, through the night most of the time. Still coughing a bit in the morning, but nowhere near as much as "normal" with me.

My wife noticed - our morning chats over tea were not disputed by explosive coughs as much ; friends remarked on the absence of coughing.

I must pay tribute to the team at Wythenshawe Hospital who ran the trial - Professor Jackie Smith and her colleagues, particularly nurse Terri Collier - they were all very helpful and supportive.

I have told them I would not hesitate to take this drug if it were available... There's lots more detail I could go into but I'll leave it at that for now - the cough is subsiding and I might just get back to sleep.

I just wanted to put this out there and let everyone know - there is some light at the end of the long dark tunnel that is our cough experience. We just have to be very patient!

Sunday, April 17, 2016

I thought I would post something just to keep the activity going, though I've not much to say.... my cough is still very troublesome at about the same level as ever - cough EVERY morning first thing for at least half an hour, then it eases off a bit but comes back at various unpredictable and seemingly random times during the day.
I'm just about to go on a trial for a new treatment from the Cough Clinic at Wythenshawe - it's of a drug that has been quite successful in previous small trials. 12 weeks of taking the tablets and tests - but I could be on the placebo, you never know, so it could be a while before anything comes of it. Just have to hope that I get the real drug in there!
Will report back....

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About Me

I've had a cough for 18 years now, and have tried many, many things to get rid of it, without any lasting success. This blog is full of ideas that people have sent me after I appeared in the newspapers, and on radio and TV, talking about it a few years ago.

Cough jokes - because we need to keep a sense of humour!

...John was a clerk in a small drugstore but he was not much of a salesman. He could never find the item the customer wanted. Bob, the owner, had had about enough and warned John that the next sale he missed would be his last.

Just then a man came in coughing and he asked John for their best cough syrup. Try as he might John could not find the cough syrup. Remembering Bob's warning he sold the man a box of Ex-Lax and told him to take it all at once. The customer did as John said and then walked outside and leaned against a lamp post.

Bob had seen the whole thing and came over to ask John what had transpired. "He wanted something for his cough but I couldn't find the cough syrup. I substituted Ex-Lax and told him to take it all at once," John explained.

"Ex-Lax won't cure a cough," Bob shouted angrily.

"Sure it will," John said, pointing at the man leaning on the lamp post. "Look at him. He's afraid to cough!"

Next: not a joke, but these emails made me laugh on the Manchester Evening News website when the story first appeared:"I can help this man. I need his address. I have a electronic device which will surely help him to cure from this caugh. If anyone can give me his address, i can post the device for free. it can also help from various body pains including back pain." sadab, Dhaka, Bangladesh

"Thanks Sadab, they're known in the UK as cattle prods. Do send it to him though..."Mr.Manchester